The Council for the Defence of British Universities has recently been launched. Their message is that British universities occupy a high place in the world, and need to be defended against changes and especially marketisation.

Britain’s universities are amongst the world’s best. But misguided policies are rapidly undermining them.
One reason: no organisation exists to defend academic values. Hence the need for the CDBU.

The Times Higher Education has a story here. David Attenborough, Melvin Bragg, AS Byatt, Stefan Collini, Richard Dawkins, Martin Rees, Keith Thomas and Mary Warnock are among the key people involved. While I have considerable sympathy to the idea – who wouldn’t? – it’s a shame that their website is reliant on references to league tables and other metrics. Are those not part of the problem?